¹It should be noted that Gottfried refers to his source as Thomas von ‘Bretanje,’ which may mean Britain as well as Brittany. It is generally assumed that Thomas wrote his work at the court of Henry II (Plantagenet) for an Anglo-Norman audience.
²The initials of the first 11 strophes yield the acrostich GDIETERICHT, «G» presumably referring to the author and «Dieterich» to the name of an as yet unidentified patron by the name of Dieterich.  The second part of the introduction (ll. 45ff.) and, thus, the subject of the work, Tristan and Isolde,  is announced by the initial «T» of the eleventh strophe (l. 41), followed by the initial «I» of l. 45 and subsequently com-plemented by initials «I» and «T» in ll. 131 and 135.  This cryptogrammatic use of initials and letters is continued throughout Tristan. It also may indicate that the work had already been intended for a reading public at its inception (cf. Rüdiger Krohn’s commentary [1981] to l. 8738).
³The concept of the «edle Herzen» is pivotal for the interpretation of Tristan. They are clearly distinguished from the «gewöhnliche Menschen» who merely seek pleasure in this world, ignoring the role of suffering as an ingredient of life as well as love.  Notice also the medieval notion that the heart harbors both reason and emotions, and that the eyes are merely windows (Cf. ll. 8126-8131).
⁴The allusion is to the typical scenario for courtly romances.
⁵The exchange of adjectives and nouns is a characteristic feature of Gottfried’s style, intended to show the inextricable mixture of human emotions
⁶The names Tristan and Isolde are both Celtic in origin. Medieval folk-etymology made a connection with  French «triste», meaning sad, thus alluding to the sorrowful circumstances of Tristan’s birth.
⁷The allusion  to the «bread of life», that is the Eucharist, may stem from the medieval custom of referring to the story of the life and death of Jesus as ‘bread of life,’ thus suggesting perhaps that reading about Tristan and Isolde may be tantamount to reading the Bible (Cf. Krohn’s note to ll. 233-240)!
⁸It may perhaps be idle speculation to realize that Gottfried apparently had encountered the love grotto as an eleven-year-old. See ll. 17136f.
⁹“geselle”—«Gefährte»—can have a rather wide range of meaning, from mere companionship to intimate friendship.
¹⁰This passage and ll. 6183ff. are reminiscent of the savage’s puzzlement  in Iwein at the meaning of knightly adventure and Iwein’s fight for Laudine’s life.  Quite obviously, Tristan pursues here a «zweckgebundenes Abenteuer».
¹¹French and Latin were the principal languages of culture, but the recognition of Breton and Welsh skills in music is frequent in the poem.
¹²«Sittenlehre» (“morâliteit”) appears nowhere else in Middle High German literature.  Obviously Gottfried did not mean ‘morality’ and doubtless intended something other than courtliness. Quite probably he is thinking of the special intellectual and moral qualities required for the “edle herzen” of l. 47.  In a life where the world and God seem juxtaposed, this «Sittenlehre» is meant to reconcile the two in an attempt to overcome the dualism of the early Middle Ages.
¹³The notion is repeated in Walther von der Vogelweide’s poem “Ich saz ûf eime steine,” where he speaks of the difficulty of reconciling “êre,” “varnde guot,” and “gotes hulde,” «Ehre», «Besitz», and «Gottwohlgefälligkeit», or «honestum», «utile», and «summum bonum», the synthesis of which characterizes the ideal of perfect courtliness according to the so-called «ritterliche Tugendsystem» (G. Ehrismann), the courtly system of virtues.
¹⁴Both the Cathedral of Sens and the Abbey of Saint-Denis were famous for their church music.
¹⁵Krohn, in his commentary to ll. 3680f. suggests that both “Lût” and “Thamîse” refer to London. We may want to recall that Thomas of Brittany allegedly wrote his Tristan  for the court of Henry II.
¹⁶In Provençal literature a «pastourelle» dealt with shepherds and knights courting shepherdesses in a pastoral setting;  «Rotrouenge» and «Refloit» refer to the musical form of songs with a refrain;  a «Rondeau» is a dance song;  «Chanson» may perhaps be likened to the canzone, a lyric poem somewhat like a madrigal;  «Folate» is a term solely used by Gottfried (Krohn).
¹⁷Magnetstein:  legendary magnetic rocks in oriental tales which attract the metal parts of ships. In German literature, the theme is found as early as the twelfth-century «Spielmannsepos» Herzog Ernst (c.1180). In Greek and Roman mythology, the sirens are any of several sea nymphs, represented as part bird and part woman, who lured sailors to their death on rocky coasts by seductive singing.  Here the sirens are associated with the magnetic rocks.
¹⁸In Gottfried’s source, Brangäne does not throw away the remainder of the potion, and it is later drunk by Marke.  Gottfried apparently refuses to put Marke into the same predicament toward Isolde.
¹⁹The love potion appears to represent the central motif in the poem.  Contrary to its relatively short-term effect in the works of Eilhart and Béroul, it will last until the lovers’ death.  H. Fürstner points out in Der Beginn der Liebe bei Tristan und Isolde (Neophil. 41 (1957), pp. 25ff.) that there are essentially four possibilities for assessing the potion’s significance (although, concerning this, there seems to exist no concensus among Gottfried scholars):  the potion may be viewed as a symbol of love itself which unleashes Tristan and Isolde’s fateful love;  it may merely symbolize that they have become conscious of their love;  but then it may also indicate the advent of sensuous love which had hitherto been subliminal, or it may have no significant symbolic function at all, and simply constitute a device dictated by tradition.
²⁰The falcon may represent the lover in medieval tradition (Cf. Der von Kürenberg, “Ich zoch mir einen valken” and Nibelungenlied  1: 13ff.);  here, however, the term “vederspil” is used, which could also suggest ‘lure.’
²¹Notice the cumulative effect of having three lines start with the same word, “lameir,” in II. 11986ff.  Also, this play on words appears to have already been used by Thomas of Brittany;  it was not uncommon in Provençal literature.
²²Here and elsewhere--particularly in the prologue--Gottfried maximizes the significance of the message expressed by mere words by employing inversion (chiasmus).
²³Ordeals or «Gottesurteile» usually occurred in the form of a trial by combat («Zweikampf»), or a physical test to which the victim was subjected in order to verify the truth attested to under oath.
²⁴Tristan had risked his life to obtain Petitcrü as a diversion for Isolde.  The meaning of the name is somewhat unclear but suggests a priceless albeit ‘small token’ of Tristan’s evergrowing love and unswerving devotion.  French  «cru» suggests ‘yield, something growing within one’s domain.’
²⁵The allegorical explanation of the characteristics of the grotto appears to be deliberately patterned after the allegorization practiced by medieval Bible exegesis, according to which a passage  is not to be understood literally but interpreted allegorically.  Earlier interpretations of the grotto episode insisted that Gottfried deliberately paralleled the standard of allegorization of the various parts of a church which is found in many of the Christian Fathers.
²⁶The concept of «der Minnen hûs» (“Haus der Liebe”) could remind us of anonymous French love poems in which the lay-out and the components of the «maison d’amour» are allegorized.  None of these however  seem to pre-date Tristan.
²⁷i.e. a lever in the shape of a rod made of soft tin that operates the latch.
²⁸ll. 17100-17139 are seemingly autobiographical but represent most likely formal expressions of humility and modesty similar to those in ll. 12183-12357 and  in Hartmann von Aue’s Iwein, l. 3015, and Gregorius, l. 798 (Krohn).  Furthermore, Gottfried intended to indicate that the experience of love is not confined to the two lovers in the poem.  Their story is to be interpreted in allegorical fashion and their grotto exists in the hearts of all true lovers.
²⁹The hunting skills of Tristan remained legendary throughout the Middle Ages. Cf. ll. 2759-3013, where Tristan demonstrates his extraordinary skills to the master of the hunt at Marke’s court.
³⁰besternt:  studded as if with stars
³¹Tristrant und Isalde:  Prosaroman.  Nach dem ältesten Druck aus Augsburg vom Jahre 1484, versehen mit den Lesarten des zweiten Augsburger Druckes aus dem Jahre 1498 und eines Wormser Druckes unbekannten Datums.  Herausgegeben von Alois Brandstetter.  Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 1966.